IRS SAYS CHECK IS IN THE MAIL IF YOUR STIMULUS PAYMENT WAS WRONGFULLY OFFSET AGAINST YOUR SPOUSE'S PAST-DUE CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS
Earlier this year the U.S. Treasury mailed millions of $1,200 stimulus
checks to Americans earning less than $75,000 per year. However, many
joint-filing individuals have never received their Economic Impact Stimulus
Payments (“EIP”) to this day. The IRS believes that about
50,000 joint-filing individuals had their share of the EIP erroneously
diverted and offset to pay their spouse’s past-due child support
obligations.
In a recent press release, the IRS acknowledged that this diversion/offset
of one spouse’s share of an EIP to offset against the other spouse’s
past-due child support payments was not proper and vows to fix the problem
soon. Regardless of whether the eligible spouse previously submitted a
Form 8379 (Injured Spouse Allocation) to the IRS, the IRS will automatically
mail catch-up checks to all affected individuals without any further action
required by the taxpayer. However, the IRS does not have an exact timeline
for mailing these catch-up payments, which are designed to reimburse the
eligible spouse for his/her portion of the EIP that was erroneously applied
to the other spouse’s debt.